1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shields for camera equipment and in particular to a hood that is open at a forward and an aft end.
2. Description of Related Art
Professional photographers employed by newspapers or magazines normally employ sophisticated and expensive camera equipment. The camera equipment may include a motorized camera body attached to a large aperture, telephoto lens. Other professionals may employ relatively large video cameras that are also relatively large and expensive.
When using such camera equipment outdoors at, for example, sporting events, the equipment needs to be protected from inclement weather. Moisture from rain or snow can damage the equipment. Also moisture trapped inside the equipment can distort the images captured by the camera equipment.
Sports photographers have placed their camera equipment in plastic bags to shield against inclement weather. The floppy nature of a plastic bag can interfere with efficient use of the camera equipment. Folds of the bag can restrict manual access to important parts of the camera equipment or can become entangled with the camera equipment or the camera operator. Also, bags have a tendency to vibrate and become mishaped in windy conditions. Furthermore, floppy enclosures provide no protection against accidental impacts.
Others have tried to customize the shape and structure of a protective bag. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,950, a bag-like protector is open at the forward end and has rear hole designed to be secured at a camera view finder. A slit on the underside of the protector allows manual access. This design has most of the disadvantages previously noted for ordinary plastic bags, namely, interference with manual access, likelihood of entanglement, etc. For a related design for a video camera see U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,017.
A bag-like camera case for underwater photography is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,036,506. A six sided, waterproof box for holding a camera is shown in Design Patent 334,397. For other bag-like devices for protecting a camera see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,033,392; and 4,176,701.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,113 shows a mesh-like guard for the telescopic sight of a gun. This guard has a front and rear bracket for attachment to the gun. This mesh design does not protect from inclement weather. Also, the attachment brackets at opposite ends are highly disadvantageous for attachment to camera equipment.
For shades that attach to the end of lenses or sights, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,089,117; 5,095,327; and 5,181,140. Other devices that attach to the end of a lens are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,415,242; and 4,909,617. Visors are shown for computer monitors in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,784,468; 5,115,345; and 5,233,468. Various visors and shields for vehicle mirrors are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,989,896; 5,165,745; 5,331,461; and 5,421,628.